As countries pursue the maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) targets established under Sustainable Development Goal 3, they will need to ensure the continuous availability of essential health commodities to prevent and treat the conditions that cause morbidity and mortality in those groups. Since the report of the United Nations Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children (UNCoLSC) was published in 2012, much progress has been made to highlight the challenges countries face in ensuring access to essential commodities and to create resources to overcome these challenges. A major issue yet to be adequately addressed is financing for these life-saving commodities. SIAPS mapped the budget allocation, approval, disbursement, and reporting processes in the public sector for essential MNCH commodities in four countries—
Bangladesh, Kenya, Nepal, and Uganda—to inform the development of strategies and
interventions that will improve access to these commodities.

Despite an increase in access to medicines in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), fully functional pharmacovigilance and regulatory systems are not yet in place. Strengthening regulatory and pharmacovigilance systems is a global imperative for preventing harm and improving outcomes in treatment and prevention programs. The Asia region both supplies and purchases medical products. A better understanding of the existing regulatory and pharmacovigilance systems in this region can help guide national governments and international donors towards effective and viable pharmacovigilance systems.

Recognizing the importance of assisting countries to protect the public from poor quality and unsafe medicines, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) funded the Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals and Services (SIAPS) Program to assess pharmacovigilance systems in five Asian countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal, the Philippines, and Thailand.